College accrediting commission for California ousted

(l-r) Gary Liang, Esther Wu, Jenny Chen, Dan Zhang, and Zhen Ye Pan, all CCSF students, march down Market Street in protest of the anticipated budget cuts at CCSF, in San Francisco, California on Thursday, November 12, 2015. less

(l-r) Gary Liang, Esther Wu, Jenny Chen, Dan Zhang, and Zhen Ye Pan, all CCSF students, march down Market Street in protest of the anticipated budget cuts at CCSF, in San Francisco, California on Thursday, ... more

Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, Special To The Chronicle

Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, Special To The Chronicle

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(l-r) Gary Liang, Esther Wu, Jenny Chen, Dan Zhang, and Zhen Ye Pan, all CCSF students, march down Market Street in protest of the anticipated budget cuts at CCSF, in San Francisco, California on Thursday, November 12, 2015. less

(l-r) Gary Liang, Esther Wu, Jenny Chen, Dan Zhang, and Zhen Ye Pan, all CCSF students, march down Market Street in protest of the anticipated budget cuts at CCSF, in San Francisco, California on Thursday, ... more

Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, Special To The Chronicle

College accrediting commission for California ousted

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In a major shift for California community colleges, the system’s Board of Governors voted Monday to oust the controversial accrediting commission that has overseen campus quality for half a century and is threatening to shut down City College of San Francisco.

The change could take years and is not expected to derail the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges’ efforts to require City College to comply with numerous standards or lose accreditation.

“The Board of Governors is looking to the future needs of our colleges and striving to ensure the highest level of quality for the 2.1 million students we serve,” board President Geoffrey Baum said in a statement after the vote. “There is widespread agreement among faculty, staff, trustees and other leaders within our system that the current accreditation process needs significant improvement. We look forward to examining a proposal for change early next year.”

Meeting at Mount San Antonio College in Walnut, near Los Angeles, the governing board for the nation’s largest community college system ignored a last-minute plea by the accrediting commission’s chairman, Steve Kinsella, who argued that the group has changed its ways and is now more focused on improving college quality than on forcing compliance with every regulation.

“You’re looking at old information,” said Kinsella, noting that the accrediting commission is “shifting to focus on quality improvement.” At the same time, he warned the board, “If you think you’re getting away from regulatory compliance, I think you’re mistaken.”

On Monday, the Board of Governors voted 14-0 to direct state Chancellor Brice Harris to create a plan to replace the commission and come up with a timeline by its March meeting. State officials say any new accreditor would be phased in, a process that could take years because each of the state’s 113 colleges is reviewed for accreditation every six years. A shift to a new accreditor will also require a lengthy approval process by the U.S. Department of Education. The private, independent commission is one of six regulated by the U.S. Department of Education.

One board member, Joseph Bielanski Jr., recused himself because he also serves on the accrediting commission. Thomas Epstein was absent.

Harris, the state chancellor, told the board he had received nearly 200 letters of support for replacing the commission. Most came from groups representing faculty, employees and students.

The recommendation to oust the commission came in August from a state task force convened by Harris — one of its former commissioners — because of concerns from college employees, politicians and public officials who perceived that the commission was intent on shutting down City College regardless of how much progress it made toward full compliance. But its problems went beyond City College, which has one more year to comply with standards before the commission decides its fate in January 2017.

The task force concluded that the commission was too punitive in its treatment of many colleges, and that its members appeared to care more about regulatory minutiae than about helping colleges improve. Its 270-page report said the commission has resisted calls to change for years.

“This is very good news,” said Joshua Pechthalt, president of the California Federation of Teachers, which has sued the commission and filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Education, which regulates the nation’s accreditors.

“The decision affirms the work we’ve been doing for a couple of years to bring to light the destructive role the commission has played in the accreditation of California’s community colleges,” Pechthalt said. “And while our work is not over to find an accrediting agency that truly serves the interests of colleges, this is a message from the Board of Governors that real change is needed.”

The accrediting commission, formed in 1962, oversees California community colleges, as well as the colleges of Hawaii and Palau.